HE’S had two of the highest-grossing tours of all time, but even that achievement can’t persuade Ed Sheeran to keep hitting the road.
Instead, Ed’s looking into building a state-of-the-art venue near his home in Suffolk, for him to play a long-running residency.
Despite raking in over £1.16billion in ticket sales from his last two global jaunts, The A Team singer, said he doesn’t want to spend more time on the road away from his wife Cherry and their two daughters Lyra and Jupiter, who will both be in school by next year.
Ed explained: “I wrote down a list the other day of things that matter to me and one is my family, one is songwriting, one is doing shows.
“If I can get to a point where I’m playing shows, writing songs and hanging out with my family, then you can cut the noise out around that, however that noise might present itself.
“I looked into the idea of building a venue in my hometown and doing a residency there.
“That then cuts out the travel and being away from my family.
“I’ve built a studio nearby that I can use. I feel that’s the model you can adopt.”
It’s not surprising Ed is keen to stay in one place for longer. His last run of gigs on his Mathematics Tour saw him playing 188 shows across five different continents to 8.8million fans between April 2022 and September this year.
That grossed £655.8million, following his Divide tour between 2017 and 2019, which made £581.3million.
But there is still hope for fans all over the world, after he hinted he will hit the road one last time in support of his latest album Play before stepping back for good.
Appearing on the Awards Chatter podcast, Ed said: “I’ve got one more big tour in me before settling down for school years. That’s the model I think I want to adopt.
“I do feel like my life gets quite cluttered. I commit to lots of things and I end up doing quite a lot.”
If he doesn’t end up being able to build his own venue, I think Ed could strike a deal with his childhood football club Ipswich Town, whose ground Portman Road has a capacity of 30,000.
He owns a 1.4 per cent minority stake in the club, which on Wednesday announced a major management restructure which will help them keep turning over cash.
I reckon a smart move would be to cut a deal with Ed and make the stadium multifaceted.
That would inject some cash not only into the club but into the community, too.
MAT DROPS ALBUM HINT
ALBUMS are like buses, just ask Matty Healy.
THE 1975 frontman has revealed the group have secretly recorded not one, but two new albums.
The records, slated for release in 2026, will be the first new music from the boys since they dropped their fifth album Being Funny In A Foreign Language in 2022.
Matty let the news slip during a meet and greet with fans this week, when appearing at Gateshead College.
And he added that, randomly, one of the albums is called Dogs – a word which flashed up on screens at the end of the band’s Glastonbury set in June.
Matty told the fans: “We made two. It might be one, it might be two . . . but yeah, we made two albums.”
It comes after The 1975’s manager Jamie Oborne teased the release of a record.
Fans will no doubt be on tenterhooks to see if Matty’s ex Taylor Swift has inspired any of the music.
Their fling inspired her album The Tortured Poets Department, on which she made clear what she thinks of him. Matty, over to you.
TAYLOR NOTE TO LIAM SELLS FOR £7,500
A SWEET note from Taylor Swift to Liam Payne in 2017 has been bought at auction for £7,500.
The message was given to the late One Direction star by Taylor before he took to the stage as a solo artist at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball in London.
In the note, Taylor wrote: “Liam, Long time no see! I’m so excited for you, you’re crushing it out there.
“I’m obsessed with Bedroom Floor. It’s so cool to see you from afar, I’m always cheering you on. Good luck tonight!”
Written on one of Taylor’s personalised cards and sealed with her TS wax stamp, the message was addressed simply to “Liam”.
STORMZY is one of his own biggest fans, with the rapper revealing his second most played artist on Spotify this year was . . . himself.
He wrote on Instagram: “I be listening to Hold Me Down like it isn’t my riddim.”
But Olly Alexander went one better, as he was his own most listened-to artist of 2025.
And they say celebs are narcissistic?
RITA’S READY TO HIT ROAD
EXCITED Rita Ora fans reckon they’ll be seeing and hearing more of the singer next year.
Rita last released an album two years ago and it’s been six since her last UK tour.
But Rita’s vowed to change all that. She said: “There’s a lot coming for 2026. Keep your eyes peeled as there will be an album and a tour.”
She’s the queen of kicking the can down the road but I’m holding you to this one, Rita.
SABRINA’S MAKING A BIG CALL
SABRINA Carpenter is a really cool cat in her cover shoot for Variety magazine, in which she revealed she’s finally going to take some time off after a hectic two years touring the globe.
The Espresso singer, who posed with a kitty for the mag, said: “I’m really grateful people have been receptive of me being in their faces for a little bit too long, and I’ll be sure to take a good nap after.”
She also revealed why she sang about her messy love life, after her split from actor Barry Keoghan.
Sabrina said: “I feel like you can be strong and also knowingly f**k up. But you’re doing it all because you are a smart woman and in control of your life.”
MIKA will drop his first English language album in six years, Hyperlove, next month.
He has revealed the record will be out on January 23 and will feature his latest single Immortal Love – all about his 15-year-old golden retriever, Melachi.
MAXX RING WOWS MILEY
MILEY Cyrus has confirmed her engagement to rocker Maxx Morando after flashing a diamond ring at the US premiere to Avatar: Fire And Ash on Monday.
The couple have been dating for four years and he popped the question during a trip to Asia.
In an interview on Good Morning America, she said: “I am not easy to surprise because I love to control every situation and I had completely surrendered and I’m telling you, I was so, so, so surprised.”
In another interview with Billboard, she said it was “perfect timing” but that they are yet to start planning a wedding.
She explained: “Now with the holidays coming up, I’ll have a little bit more time to think about it.
“But my instinct is to always enjoy every moment for as long as you possibly can.”
HAND IT TO JONAS LADS
THE Jonas Brothers have joined showbiz royalty, having their handprints immortalised outside the TCL Theatre in Hollywood.
The trio, who are celebrating two decades as a band, took part in the ceremony on Wednesday, following in the handprints of Frank Sinatra, Tom Cruise, Cher and many more.
Joe, who was joined by Nick and Kevin for the event, said it was “totally surreal”, especially as they visited the cinema and nearby Hollywood Walk of Fame on their first ever visit to Los Angeles.
He said: “Walking around to see the stars, to see these handprints, and thinking like, one day maybe . . . but never this, I guess, early in our career. It’s an honour.
“We were just normal kids growing up in New Jersey. We never imagined our hands and feet would one day be a part of Hollywood history.”
